In Her Own World

Early last evening, I went out to retrieve something from my car. At the same moment I opened the door to leave the building, a twenty-something couple deep in conversation was about to enter, a foot or two away away from me. The man was just ahead of the woman.

The man pauses just briefly enough to acknowledge me, say something that may have been “thanks” and fly past me. The woman follows, never looks up, and never stops talking. I wondered if she thought that the door opened itself. I was having a rare good day, and uncharacteristically didn’t let their lack of manners bother me. But what struck me was not that she was so much unkind as she was just unaware of anything outside of immediate focus.

My explanation for folks who are either inconsiderate or who walk into traffic, or both.

I see that in parking lots, when people are unaware of cars backing up toward them, or just plain think that the driver sees them and will know enough to stop. I expect that from children, but from adults?

When I was a child, and I mean less than 10, my father used to tell me, “Be aware. Pay attention. Look around you.” At first, Dad drilled that into me because he didn’t want me walking into people in the grocery store, but his reminders to “be aware” became more important when I grew older and situations changed.

@ #2 Interested, now is the time! There are still times when I’m warning someone else’s kid to get out of the path of a moving vehicle, while the clueless parent isn’t even aware that an unknown woman is talking to their child. Scary!

I always get the door for a woman and will wait a few seconds longer for a woman to get to the doorway. Problem is that its acknowledged maybe 50% of the time.

In the grocery store you will always run into the senior citizen who will peruse the shelves with their cart right in the middle of the aisle. They know your there but will make you wait. I know people we more polite in “their day” and I suspect they think that we should be patient while they are being rude.

I totally agree with you, Other. I love it when when some young chick is on her cell and won’t stop talking to thank you for holding the door for her.

When anyone holds a door for me, I always say thanks. When a gentleman opens a door for me and allows me to pass through first, I look up, give him a gracious smile and say, “Thank you, sir!”

As for the senior citizens, I won’t tolerate it especially because it was “their generation” that taught us about manners. It’s one thing if an older person is hard of hearing and just doesn’t hear you coming down the aisle. A polite “Excuse me” does the trick. It’s quite another thing when the senior citizen knows that you’re there and just won’t move.

Reminds me of my grandmother, who once cut ahead of several people in line at a buffet, telling everyone, “I’M-A OLD!” Then she’d take extra food home in her giant pocketbook. My Grandma, folks—the Original Crabby Old Lady.

Know where you see this a lot? If you ride a bike in a downtown area. You’d be shocked at the number of people who just fling open their driver’s side door without so much as taking a look behind them.